Edith Wynner (1915-2003) was a writer, speaker, and activist for world government, peace, and feminism throughout the 20th century. The Edith Wynner papers document her work as secretary to Mme. Rosika Schwimmer, lecturer and author on world government, and biographer of Rosika Schwimmer.

Biographical/historical information

Edith Wynner was born Edith Weiner on December 22, 1915 in Budapest, Hungary to Frieda Herskovics and Robert Weiner. Her father, a jeweler, left Hungary at the end of World War I for the United States and anglicized the family surname to Wynner; Edith, her mother, and brother, Albert, followed in 1923. Because of her family's travels, including extended visits to family in Czechoslovakia, Wynner was fluent in Hungarian, German, English, Slovak, and French from a young age. The Wynners settled in Chicago, Illinois, where Edith graduated from Theodore Roosevelt High School and was first introduced to Mme. Rosika Schwimmer.

Wynner moved to New York City after high school with the intention of attending Hunter College; however, the effects of the Great Depression forced her to find full-time employment at 19 years old. Because of her language skills and interest in activism, she became secretary to Rosika Schwimmer in 1934. Wynner became closely involved in the issues Schwimmer advocated for, and Schwimmer pushed her to begin delivering small lectures and publishing her writing. In addition to working as Schwimmer's personal secretary, Wynner served as National Secretary of the Griffin-O'Day Bill Committee from 1934 to 1936, and from 1937 to 1941 as New York Secretary and delegate of the Campaign for World Government-which were headed by Schwimmer and her longtime associate, Lola Maverick Lloyd.

From 1943 to 1944, Wynner and Lloyd's daughter, Georgia Lloyd, researched and wrote Searchlight on Peace Plans: Choose Your Road to World Government, examining peace plans over five centuries in history. Edith Wynner and Georgia Lloyd went on a speaking tour for the book through 1946, which included some international destinations. In 1947, Wynner sailed to England and worked as secretary to Henry Usborne, M.P. and co-founder of the Parliamentary Group for World Government. With Usborne, she attended the 1947 Conference of the World Movement for World Federal Government, and was elected Vice President of the Conference.

Following Rosika Schwimmer's death in 1948, Wynner became Consultant to the Schwimmer-Lloyd collection at the New York Public Library. With Franciska Schwimmer, until her death in 1962, Wynner oversaw all aspects of the collection's administration, including processing, description, access restrictions, reference requests, and preservation. She actively worked to build the collection, securing the papers of Lola Maverick Lloyd's children and meticulously collecting books and printed material on the subjects covered in the collection. Wynner remained the Schwimmer-Lloyd Consultant for many decades, until her illness in the late 1990s.

Wynner continued writing about the need for world peace through world government throughout her life, publishing World Federal Government: Why? What? How? In Maximum Terms in 1954. She regularly engaged in written debate about how best to achieve disarmament and improve the United Nations, with her letters to the editor and essays appeared in publications such as The New York Times, The Wilson Quarterly, and World Peace News. Wynner delivered testimony to Senate and United Nations charter hearings from the 1950s through the 1970s, though she scaled back participation in world government organizations in favor of her research. Wynner's fervor for disarmament and world peace gave her written work a tone that she recognized as unvarnished and biting. She published reviews and essays into the 1990s, often taking to task historians and authors who she felt misrepresented the work of Rosika Schwimmer and the Campaign for World Government.

While working with the Schwimmer-Lloyd collection, Wynner labored on a historical biography she hoped to complete about Rosika Schwimmer's life. Her work on The Life and Times of Rosika Schwimmer spanned over 50 years, but never saw completion.

Edith Wynner died in 2003.

Scope and arrangement

The Edith Wynner papers date from 1890 to 1999 and contain correspondence, writings, personal files, photographs, and research notes. The collection covers Wynner's family life and earliest work as a world government advocate; her time as secretary to Rosika Schwimmer; work as an independent researcher, lecturer, and writer on world government and peace activism; and as the biographer of Rosika Schwimmer.

Correspondence is both personal and professional in nature, and is filed throughout the collection. Wynner's writings and lectures-including books, articles, reviews, numerous letters to the editor, and her unfinished biography of Rosika Schwimmer-are represented by drafts, revisions, and documents on the publicity and distribution of her work. Position statements, notes, and photographs document her participation in world government conferences, government hearings, local organizations, and demonstrations. Wynner compiled general subject files that broadly cover the areas of her ideological interests, particularly the creation of world federal government, pacifism, and feminism. Research files make up the bulk of the collection and were created in the course of writing her books, primarily The Life and Times of Rosika Schwimmer. In addition to Wynner's notes, the research files include transcriptions and translations from papers in the Schwimmer-Lloyd collection.

Owing to the division of her papers between the Schwimmer-Lloyd collection and those in her possession until the time of her death, as well as her work on the same subject spanning a 50 year time period, Wynner's original filing schemes were not consistent. The collection currently contains a small number of duplicates throughout the series, as well as documents of similar type and subject spread among the series. For instance, correspondence about Wynner's research pursuits can be found in Series I, filed by date, Series V, filed by correspondent, or Series VI, filed by subject. Researchers should review the finding aid for all possible series and subseries for a given topic.

The Correspondence series contains incoming and outgoing correspondence, arranged chronologically by year. The series is divided into two subseries: General Correspondence and Family Correspondence. Correspondence can be found throughout each of the other series in the collection, where, with the exception of Series V: Subject Files, it is noted in the folder title.

Wynner began creating subject files out of her correspondence in the 1960s and 1970s, and these subject files have remained as created in Series V. While the subject files primarily relate to world government issues, her letters tend to discuss both personal and professional topics. Researchers looking for complete correspondence from an individual are advised to check the General Correspondence subseries as well as Subject Files, where names are arranged alphabetically by surname.

Wynner's personal files contain her secondary school papers, diaries, and household paperwork. Her citizenship and visa documents include her birth certificate and family immigration paperwork, with material that details her successful application for derivative United States citizenship through her father's status. Wynner lived with the Schwimmer sisters, and was primarily supported by them in addition to her modest earnings from book sales and lectures. Household notes and estate documents also discuss her care for both sisters in their final illnesses and her inheritance of their literary rights.

Wynner's diaries range from day-to-day accounts of her home life and early travels to documentation of her various health ailments, particularly early hearing loss. Wynner's experience at Camp Tera, a Civilian Conservation Corps offshoot camp for young women, is recounted in its own volume. The cards and memberships file provides an overview of her personal, civic, and professional engagement, particularly her continued participation in activist and feminist organizations. Telephone diaries and mail books offer only sporadic documentation of her correspondence, with the name, date, and subject of telephone calls and letters; additional telephone diaries and mail books are kept in the Schwimmer-Lloyd collection, Series AA.

Photographs in this series consist primarily of candid snapshots of family and close friends, as well as a small number of formal family portraits. General photograph files consist of snapshots and portraits of Wynner herself as well as unidentified scenes. Wynner's photograph albums contain Wynner family snapshots, photographs of her European travels, and summer vacations with the Schwimmer and Lloyd families.

This series covers the intellectual output of Wynner's world government and peace activities, from her earliest writings on the topic to lectures, book reviews, her two published books, and drafts of two unfinished books. The series is divided into 5 subseries: one for each substantial book-length project-Searchlight on Peace Plans, World Federal Government, and The Life and Times of Rosika Schwimmer-her Lecture Tour, and Short Works. Wynner's published books are represented by drafts and revisions, pre-publication correspondence, publicity materials, and review solicitations. Files on her shorter works are mostly limited to drafts, with some correspondence.

The subjects of Wynner's writings and lectures include the creation of a world governing body, disarmament, nuclear proliferation, pacifism, commentary on the world government community, and the intersection of these topics with feminism and women's issues. Wynner also wrote essays and historical articles on Rosika Schwimmer, the events surrounding the Hague Congress of Women, and the Ford Peace Expedition.

All subseries are arranged alphabetically, with the exception of The Life and Times of Rosika Schwimmer.

Files in Organizations and Conferences consist of Wynner's notes and statements from conferences, congressional hearings, and organizational meetings, as well as minutes, programs, and photographs of events. Materials in this series document Wynner's activism and participation in conferences to shape the creation of a democratically elected world governing body. Her earliest activist efforts in Chicago are represented in the Federation of Active Pacifist Youth files. One of the more significant events Wynner contributed to-the Conference of the World Movement for World Federal Government-is also represented in this series. In addition to world government activism, she advocated for pacifism and feminism; her photographs in this series show her participation in protests and demonstrations for these causes into the 1980s.

General notes contain written shorthand notes on a range of events, some of which are unidentified. Wynner's secretarial notes are filed here, as her work with both Schwimmer and Usborne directly related to and supported their work in the world government movement. Wynner's hearing statements are accompanied by early drafts and revisions. Conference material includes minutes, programs, and Wynner's notes on sessions; the general conference files contain documents from a range of conferences without original material from Wynner. The series also contains ephemera, such as a t-shirt and buttons from demonstrations.

Files for the Campaign for World Government and Griffin-O'Day Bill Committee offer scant coverage of Wynner's participation in each organization. For complete documentation, see the Campaign for World Government New York Office records and the Schwimmer-Lloyd collection: Griffin-O'Day Bill Committee records, respectively. Wynner's work for the World Peace Prize for Rosika Schwimmer committee is found in the Lola Maverick Lloyd papers, Series I.C.

The subject files are arranged alphabetically. The files contain correspondence, written works, meeting minutes, programs, clippings, and fliers. Most files in this series were created by Wynner with the intention of integrating them into the larger Schwimmer-Lloyd collection; materials not originating from or collected by Wynner were sent to her for retention in the collection. Her arrangement has been retained, though folder titles that originally listed personal names where the material enclosed largely represented an organization have been amended, and are filed under the organization's name with relevant individuals noted following the folder title. The subject files broadly cover the world government movement, with content that also discusses women's issues, feminist organizations, and pacifism.

Beginning in the 1970s, Wynner created files for her regular correspondents in the world government circuit, such as Garry Davis and Philip Isely, rather than filing correspondence chronologically. These letters by Wynner and others often contain in-depth arguments about the creation of a world federal body and administration of world government advocacy organizations that are similar in tone and substance to Wynner's published essays. The subject files do not include complete correspondence files, however, and should be used in concert with Series I.A. when looking for thorough documentation of an individual.

Files on general topics, namely peace and world government, and women, contain a range of items, such as programs, clippings, and fliers, that cover events and organizations not represented by an individual file. Documents that discuss the administrative and ideological issues of Tom Liggett's World Peace News are filed in this series, while correspondence on Wynner's editorial and review work are filed in Series III.D., and documents on the World Peace News world government seminars in Series IV. Individuals pursuing the same research topics as Wynner-Schwimmer and early women suffrage and peace activists-are also documented here, with correspondence as well as Wynner's commentary on her colleagues' developing manuscripts. This material is not duplicative of the formal reviews by Wynner in Series III.D., but is complementary in providing a complete overview of her engagement with authors.

In addition to Wynner's collecting for the subject files, some individuals sent her material for the expressed purpose of adding to the Schwimmer-Lloyd collection. In particular, the Georgia Lloyd/Campaign for World Government, Frances Fenner/Fedonat Press, and Josephine Rubin files are a mixture of correspondence with Wynner as well as their own documents gathered for donation to the collection.

Wynner's research notes are the largest series of the collection and cover research for her two published works as well as two unpublished manuscripts. The notes are arranged by work title, with further alphabetical arrangement in The Life and Times of Rosika Schwimmer subseries by subject. While this series primarily contains notes, files also include bibliographies, unpublished sources, clippings, and correspondence.

Administrative information

Custodial history

The Edith Wynner papers were donated to the New York Public Library in 1944 as part of the Schwimmer-Lloyd collection. Though largely unprocessed and restricted from use, the original donation was arranged as Series S of Schwimmer-Lloyd. Additional material created from the 1950s to the late 1990s remained in Wynner's custody until 2000, when the entire collection described in this guide was accessioned.

Source of acquisition

Gift of Edith Wynner, 1944-2000.

Processing information

Compiled by Weatherly Stephan.

Processing included removing all books, periodicals, printed material, and pamphlets to the Schwimmer-Lloyd library and its subsidiary Edith Wynner books series. Documents that relate directly to the administration of the Schwimmer-Lloyd collection were placed in the Manuscripts and Archives Division collection dossier. Lastly, material from other Schwimmer-Lloyd collections (primarily the Rosika Schwimmer papers) removed by Wynner has been returned to the original collections.

Along with Series S, material from two other Schwimmer-Lloyd collection series have been integrated. Files donated by Josephine Rubin were removed from the Schwimmer-Lloyd collection, Series T: Campaign for World Government New York and Chicago Offices; they are now arranged with Rubin's subject files in Series V. Material from the Hungarian Feminist Association Archives was previously arranged with Series I of Schwimmer-Lloyd. These documents have been integrated into Wynner's research notes in Series VI.B.